Abstract The study examined the effect of a commercial digital video game on high school students’ language learning motivation. Participants were 241 male students randomly assigned to one of the following three treatments: Readers, who intensively read the game’s story; Players, who played the digital video game; and Watchers, who watched two classmates play the digital video game. A language learning motivation scale was given to the participants as a pre- and post-test. Also, field notes were taken. Results indicated a significant language learning motivation increase over time. Only the Watchers, however, showed significantly higher motivation than the Readers in the end. Thus, the use of commercial digital video games can help enhance high school students’ language learning motivation.
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